


Stand (In The Place Where You Live)

by PerpetuallyToastInMouth



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Gen, No-Budget Costuming Solutions, Some Added Mythology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 02:17:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16777657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerpetuallyToastInMouth/pseuds/PerpetuallyToastInMouth
Summary: While preparing for her third try for medical school, Velocity can't sleep and stumbles into a minor adventure. Set before her first appearance in "More Than Meets the Eye" and a bit before the Camien resource crisis shown in "Optimus Prime".





	Stand (In The Place Where You Live)

**Author's Note:**

> Phew, first fic ever! Hope you enjoy! And obvious R.E.M. reference in the title is obvious.

Another night of studying, another night of restless sleep.

By now, Velocity was used to the pattern. She’d spend the afternoon over medical data-pads (the more, the merrier), underlining and searching keywords and making notes. Then Nautica would come over for her combination of refresher course and pick-me-up session. Then she’d leave, and Velocity would go over the _second_ set of notes they’d taken, underline new passages and search more keywords. By the end of the night, her module would be filled with lists and short codes that only she would understand, and for a fleeting night at that –by the next sun-up, all knowledge would be gone.

Every night before recharge, the same, persistent thought would come forth every time: “Is it even worth it?” She’d scold herself for even thinking of giving up, and at least in that, there was some variation: “You have someone with you to help this time! You’re not going on your own, like before!”, “Your psychology is better this time! You’re not gonna be paralyzed by fear, like the first time!”, “You’re far more qualified this time and you know it, so stop complaining! You’re not gonna be a performer and that’s final!” With these thoughts humming in her lines she’d power down, temporarily calmed.

But not tonight. Well, at least that was something novel. She’d gotten tired of turning around, too.

Velocity stood up from her slab, and silently opened the door to the corridor outside. With one last look at her desk and the scattered data-pads on it, she rushed to the staircase. By pure chance, the sorority guard at the front gate was changing in about ten cycles. She’d have to hurry to not be detected, but she knew she could do it.

***

Living in the campus, despite all its academic difficulties and sometimes inane socializing, had at least one advantage over the rest of Caminus: fuel was a right, not a luxury.

Velocity knew of the planet’s minor resources crisis, but reading about something and being an eyewitness are different, and she wasn’t exactly happy to fill that knowledge gap. The planet was becoming isolationist, and policy infected the people like disease, turning them closed-off and suspicious. Even in the middle of the night, there was conspicuous movement in downtown bars, their lights shining like beacons in the dark capital, attracting beggars and ruffians. She didn’t want to get on anyone’s bad side, and so she’d just speed up as she went past them. She’d only catch glimpses of shadowy figures entering and leaving, all eyeing the Forgefire with a mixture of fear and hatred. On that only, she’d agree with them –getting caught by the Nightwatch was not something she’d want on her CV.

And so she turned left and headed towards the outer city limits, until a crashing sound made her stop. The hurried buzz of an engine taking off and a delayed alarm made the situation clear: a midnight robbery. She would’ve taken off as well, if not for a little voice inside her helm: “You said you want to help people. Well, do it. Either the robber or the victim needs it.”

She was about to object, but the voice went on: “Scared of the authorities? I see no guards around these paths. Besides, you’re not doing anything illegal, are you?” There was even a seductive whisper: “They might even reward you, silly.”

Velocity’s engine revved up and she rushed towards the source of the noise. She followed a faint trail of smoke the thief had left behind, and traced them hovering over an open market space. A flying alt mode, possibly some kind of bi-plane –no chance of catching up with them on ground... unless she took one of the overpasses and jumped them. She charted a twenty-cycle-long course through the district and even left misleading loud vents along her circuitous path. The flier only ignored them and rushed ahead, but they must’ve at least been distracted –they didn’t see the racecar jump on them from a footbridge at the edge of town.

The two crashed in mid-air, then Velocity’s force dragged them both to the ground, to the wilderness along the ground-vehicle ring road. Her fans whirring wildly to cool her frame down, she switched to robot mode. The student thanked Solus they had some distance from most housing spaces, or the hubbub would’ve woken everyone up.

Then she stopped thanking and started praying. She was unarmed, away from help and with a criminal standing a few feet away (they’d transformed already?) pointing a gun at her chest.

“What is _wrong_ with you?” shouted the flightframe, then shifted to an intimidating grunt. “You know what? I don’t wanna know. You saw nothing, and like the good kid that you are, you’re gonna turn around and go back home.”

Maybe something had indeed been damaged in the fall, because Velocity talked back: “Why don’t _you_ be good instead and surrender to the guards? I heard your little commotion back in town.”

“Fine. You _heard_ nothing, either.”

“I must have real faulty audials, then. I bet there’s even people in the Primal Wellspring that heard you, that’s how bad of a thief you are.”

Where exactly was that courage coming from? Or was it foolishness? She couldn’t tell, but she thought she found her answer with closer inspection. In the flier’s right hand, the gun was shaking.

And their left hand was holding onto a wound on their leg.

“Listen. I don’t care what your deal is. Maybe you’re just a luckless bystander, maybe you’re a covert spy, I couldn’t-“

“I’m a doctor. I can help with that cut over there.” she blurted.

“And I’m one of the Thirteen, nice meeting you.” came the snarling reply, before a flashing light went on at the stranger’s helm, and their shaking intensified. “Listen, your company’s fun and all, but I have places to be. See you around.”

“Not with _that_ injury, you aren’t.” Velocity rose up from her place with renewed confidence. Just as she suspected, the thief didn’t pull the trigger –the gun was for show. They tried to turn and run off, but the racer placed a careful arm on their shoulder. “You’re right. I’m supposed to be an actress, I’m not an _actual_ doctor –not yet, at least. But if I want to be one, I have to learn to listen to people. You must have some problem to resort to stealing. Let me help you, however I can.”

Every bit of the flier’s tense frame wanted to escape, but she could tell from their face they had warmed up to her. “There’s no time for _any_ of that. I have friends that need me.” They shook their head in frustration. “You wanna help that bad? Come with me and I’ll get you all caught up on the way, okay?”

Velocity just shifted to vehicle mode. “Lead the way.”

***

A fifteen-cycle-long drive later, Velocity and the stranger –Anode, as she had introduced herself– arrived at the edge of Camien space and hid behind a solid metal formation. The flightframe and some friends of hers had crash-landed two hours ago there in separate groups, and Camien patrollers approached them immediately with hostile intent. Anode had left to look for weapons, keeping in touch with them through low-frequency comms.

Velocity would usually be more outraged, but she was distracted by the gash on the traveler’s leg leaking _pink_ fluid. “So wait, you’re not-“

For the first time, the stranger smiled –or rather, smirked. “From here? Course not. Who’d _want_ to stay in this place?”

The medic was about to respond with more snark, but yelling from the crash site silenced them. They were too far to hear clearly, but the patrollers had started interrogating the company –by performing a live Spark examination on a wounded, helpless scooter. Another refugee, a blocky red bot, shoved the guards aside screaming that they had no right and was pushed back with the rest of the raging company. Anode grit her teeth, barely holding her temper in check.

Velocity held her by the wrist, understanding her rage, but could only murmur in disbelief: “He’s too weak for the test, and they’re performing it in an unsafe space... We have to stop this now!”

“Nice of you to notice, only took you an eternity.” Anode gnarled.

The student let it slide –she wouldn’t let anger claim both of them. Then again, they were out of options. “I’ve heard tales of their callousness, but seeing it in person, from even low-ranked members... Only a miracle could-” Her optics zoomed on her companion’s wound, and she had her answer. She quickly wiped her hands with disinfectant and kneeled next to the flightframe. “Trust me, I have a plan.”

***

“Okay, that’s it! Eagle Eye, you handle the Spark stuff, I’m holding those idiots off!”

“You got it- Wait, who’s that?”

Tornado was just about to snap back at her absent-minded second-in-command, but shut her voicebox off when she saw the figure emerging from the dark. She wouldn’t have minded anyone else but anyone bearing the distinct ruby markings. “Scrap, a Councilor! Stop whatever you’re doing and kneel!” While the other jet closed the prisoner’s Spark casing, she gave one last look at the quiet refugees like this was their fault. She then spun her lance around and planted it on the ground as she fell on one knee.

The representative of the Council of Voices, stepping to a slow and steady pace, reached the gathered crowd and gave a calm yet sharp glance at the two fliers. She then bowed her helm at them lightly and raised her voice to a piercing, unpleasant vibrato, with unntaturally emphasized words as punctuations: “ _Greetings_ , good Bordermechs! The _Fires of Creation_ bless you!”

“And you as well, Councilor.” said Eagle Eye in a rather bubbly manner, unfit for the scene. Before his partner could quiet him, he spoke on: “What brings you here at that hour?”

“Oh, Children of Solus” bellowed the holy mech, “I had a _terrible_ premonition and came here to _warn_ you of your transgressions!” She raised her hands and made a circle in the air, as if to encompass everything around them. “You are at the _Field of Ignition_ , my friends! Here, according to the Divine Teachings, Solus Prime meditated and finalized the plans for the Grand Forge that operates to this day! This is _hallowed ground_ you’re trespassing on! Please report to the Forgefire and demand to be _cleansed_ of your sin!”

Eagle Eye’s winglets shot up and he almost fled the scene immediately, but Tornado held him back with a look. “And what about the off-worlders here? Who’s gonna deal with them?”

There was the tiniest of pauses before the Councilor howled again: “ _I_ shall purify them all, as the Mistress herself has given me her permission! Then I shall escort them away, respecting our hospitality protocols!”

Tornado was still unconvinced, but Eagle Eye gave her a tiny, friendly shove: “Hey. You want us both to end up jailed for blasphemy?”

“No.” was all she said between tight lip-plates.

“Good. Then we do as the good madam says.”

The patrollers paid their respects to the Councilor and flew away, though at least one seemed unconvinced all the way until leaving. The holy mech trailed them in the sky, and her gaze grew less and less tense as their booming engines were heard no more. She then let a sigh and collapsed on the ground panting and touching her facial markings, to the confusion of the refugees.

Though one of them –the red, blocky one- perked up when a familiar green-and-grey flier limped from behind a metallic fold. She edged closer and tapped the gasping Camien on the back, chuckling: “Wow. When you said you weren’t a good actress, I thought you were being humble.”

“Please don’t rub it in my face, make-up case.”

***

It took two hours to tune the engines up and cover up the holes in the ship, but the crew was finally ready to leave. The –stabilized with the help of another passenger– scooter thanked Velocity as he climbed into the ship, and Lug, Anode’s red partner, gave her a hug before doing the same. The flier herself, now patched up, was about to board, but not before turning back to give Velocity a thumbs up.

“Well, I _do_ owe you for all that. Wanna cash in a favor now, or wait till we meet again?”

The racecar smiled. “I wanna be hopeful we’ll bump into each other sometime.”

Anode’s optics rolled, but she remained polite about it. “Suit yourself.” She snapped her fingers, remembering something. “Though _I_ have a question. _Where_ are you studying, exactly?”

Velocity looked down with some shame. “I’m... still applying. I’ve taken the exam twice already, and I’ve failed, so...”

“Hm. How about going off-world, then?”

She raised her helm, alarmed. “Oh, I... haven’t thought of that.”

“Keep it in mind. I know _I_ am.” She winked and climbed on the ship. “Who knows, you might have an adventure or two in you.”

The door was shut down and the ship’s engines kicked into higher gear. Velocity shifted to vehicle mode and got out of its way, her module still playing the flier’s last few words back. The ship took off, kicking off metal dust in its path. It soared to the skies and got lost somewhere in the faint rings of the gas giant Caminus was orbiting, visible in the faint light of day.

Velocity stayed a little longer, marveling at her cosmic neighborhood, and wondered how brighter everything else could be.


End file.
